Wednesday, August 31, 2016

August 31, 2016 Charleston SC — The 2016 Colour of Music Festival
embarks upon an ambitious and stunning array of international classical
musical motifs solidifying its place as the largest
black classical music organization ever organized as it continues to
draw inspiration from the grandfather of black classical music, Le
Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Few classical music enthusiasts are aware of
the tremendous contributions of this African-French
composer whose opera and classical masterpieces equaled or far exceeded
those of his 18th century contemporaries. Although his compositions are
highly recognized overseas, they gather little notice in the United
States. Today despite thousands of celebrated
and prodigiously talented classical composers and performers of African
descent throughout the world, their opportunities to grace concert
stages of major American orchestras are rare to non-existent. The
Colour of Music Festival is reversing this trend.

Now in its fourth year, the
Colour of Music Festival offers a musical kaleidoscope of black classical composers and performers from across the globe and will take place
October 19-23, 2016 at various venues throughout historic Charleston, South Carolina.

Showcasing
acclaimed black chamber ensemble players and artists to form the Colour
of Music Festival Orchestra, the five-day festival brings leading black
artists to Charleston from Canada,
France, Britain, Colombia, and the Caribbean among others.

Highlights include the début of Chevalier de Saint Georges’ only opera every discovered,
The Anonymous Lover, featuring Magali Léger, native of Saint George’s birthplace, the Isle of Guadeloupe, showcasing the Festival’s
All Things French (Toutes Les Choses Françaises) motif.

Internationally renowned conductor
Marlon Daniel will again serve as Festival Music Director with
leading black maestros serving as guest conductors to lead the
Masterwork Series’
Colour of Music Festival Orchestra.

The Festival’s Saturday,
October 22 black tie gala performance features guest conductor Roderick
Cox, Associate Conductor of the renowned Minnesota Orchestra, conducting
Carl Orff’s magnificent choral masterpiece
Carmina Burana. The evening also includes the South Carolina premiere of Los Angeles-based composer Ahmed Alabaca’s composition
Across the Calm Waters of Heaven, a prayer song written in response to recent losses of life across the globe due to race or religion.

Returning
to the historic Avery Normal School, now the Avery Research Center, the
Chamber Series features internationally acclaimed
Kanneh-Mason Trio, a sensational British family performing a
special chamber presentation Wednesday, October 19 showcasing the
family’s three virtuoso classical musicians who are paving the way for
their even younger siblings to début at a future Colour
of Music Festival. New York-based classical guitarist Thomas Flippin joins French violinist
Romuald Grimbert-Barré for a special intimate chamber performance of guitar and violin Friday, October 21.

Education and Community Engagement: Free Symposiums

In addition, a free four-part
daily morning symposium series featuring thought leaders and musicians
will highlight academic perspectives of the cultural contributions
of black composers and Charleston’s contribution stemming from the
historic Avery Normal School’s music endeavors. Topics include the
French contribution to black classical music, black opera legends, and
the legacy of black composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

“As
we embark upon our most ambitious festival in our young four-year
history, I am pleased to introduce the Lowcountry to artists and
offerings extraordinary talent from around the globe. Our
recent recognition as the largest black classical professional
organization is an acknowledgment we accept with humble appreciation.
Charleston has become an international destination and this year’s scope
and depth is indicative of the city’s appeal,” said
Lee Pringle, Festival Founder and Artistic Director of the Festival.

Maestro
Daniel, a resident of both the United States and France added, “I am
very excited to be introducing St. Georges’ only surviving opera in a
concert stage format with my dear friend and
colleague Magali Léger. This is truly a spectacular time for the
Festival.”

Colour of Music Festival Tickets $11-$72

(Special rates available onsite only for active duty and reserve U.S. Military Personnel and College students with I.D.)

Based in Charleston, South Carolina and organized in 2013, the
Colour of Music Festival, Inc. presents a diverse classical repertoire of baroque, classical and 20th century music at the highest of musical standards to diverse audiences throughout the Lowcountry, regionally and nationally.
www.colourofmusic.org

Professor of History. Department of
Afro-American and African Studies, Residential College, and Department
of History. The University of Michigan

THE FIRST DEFINITIVE
HISTORY OF THE INFAMOUS 1971 ATTICA PRISON UPRISING, THE STATE’S VIOLENT
RESPONSE, AND THE VICTIMS’ DECADES-LONG QUEST FOR JUSTICE

On September 9, 1971, nearly 1,300 prisoners took over the Attica
Correctional Facility in upstate New York to protest years of
mistreatment. Holding guards and civilian employees hostage, the
prisoners negotiated with officials for improved conditions during the
four long days and nights that followed.

On September 13, the state
abruptly sent hundreds of heavily armed troopers and correction
officers to retake the prison by force. Their gunfire killed thirty-nine
men—hostages as well as prisoners—and severely wounded more than one
hundred others. In the ensuing hours, weeks, and months, troopers and
officers brutally retaliated against the prisoners. And, ultimately, New
York State authorities prosecuted only the prisoners, never once
bringing charges against the officials involved in the retaking and its
aftermath and neglecting to provide support to the survivors and the
families of the men who had been killed.

Drawing from more
than a decade of extensive research, historian Heather Ann Thompson
sheds new light on every aspect of the uprising and its legacy, giving
voice to all those who took part in this forty-five-year fight for
justice: prisoners, former hostages, families of the victims, lawyers
and judges, and state officials and members of law enforcement. Blood in the Water is the searing and indelible account of one of the most important civil rights stories of the last century.

(With black-and-white illustrations throughout)

About Heather Ann Thompson:

HEATHER ANN THOMPSON is an award-winning historian at the
University of Michigan. She has written on the history of mass
incarceration and its current impact for The New York Times,Time, The Atlantic, Salon, Dissent, New LaborForum, and The Huffington Post, as
well as for various scholarly publications. She served on a National
Academy of Sciences blue-ribbon panel that studied the causes and
consequences of mass incarceration in the United States and has given
congressional staff briefings on this subject.

Good journalism changes the way people think. Bad journalism panders to the way people think to win readers. Yesterday the Guardian indulged in bad journalism by jumping on the we need more women conductors bandwagon. Of course we need more women in senior positions in classical music. On An Overgrown Path was one of the first to say that ten years ago. But as a commenter on the Guardian
editorial astutely observes "the issue is much more complicated than a
call of 'We need more women conductors!'” Quite wrongly a complex of
historical factors and entrenched attitudes has prevented women taking
senior roles. Thankfully that is now changing,
but the cultural correction will take time. It can be argued quite
convincingly that the correction should have been instigated earlier.
But it wasn't and we can't change history.

What makes the Guardian editorial particularly bad journalism is
that it aims at the easy target of the unacceptable gender balance in
classical music, but totally ignores other imbalances such as ethnicity.
The editorial trumpets that just eight BBC Proms out of 75 this year
are conducted by women, but overlooks the even more startling statistic
that in more than 2500 Promenade concerts there have been just three black conductors
- all men - and the last one was back in 2003. Again, quite wrongly a
complex of historical factors and entrenched attitudes have prevented
black musicians taking senior positions in classical music, and, as for
women, the essential correction will take time. But the difference is
that the correction has not even started for black conductors. Now over to the crusading liberal journalists at the Guardian...

Also on Facebook and Twitter.
Any copyrighted material is included as "fair use" for critical
analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s).

The liner notes are by Jeannie Gayle Pool, Ph.D. They begin with a Biography which opens with this information: "Composer and pianist Zenobia Powell Perry (1908-2004) was born to a well-educated, middle-class family in Boley, Oklahoma. Her father, Calvin Bethel Powell, was an African American physician whose missionary parents raised him in Somaliland; her mother, Birdie Lee Thompson, was Creek Indian and African American. Originally trained in piano by a local teacher, Mayme Jones (who had been a student of the pianist-composer R. Nathaniel Dett), Perry moved in 1931 to study with Dett in Rochester, New York." R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) is profiled in detail at AfriClassical.com.

Dr. Pool continues: "Later, she went to Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where she assisted the famous choir director, arranger, and composer William L. Dawson." William Levi Dawson (1899-1990) is featured at AfriClassical.com.

The notes tell us that when she graduated in 1938, Zenobia Perry "...headed an African American teacher training program, supervised in part by Eleanor Roosevelt, who became a friend, ally, and mentor." Perry taught at Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal College from 1947-1955, Dr. Pool writes, and during that period "...she formed a piano duo with Arthur Kelton Lawrence..." Dr. Pool adds that one of the works performed by the duo was "...Perry's own arrangement of Florence Price's Dances in the Canebrakes."

The notes continue: "From 1955 until 1982, she was composer-in-residence at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. Her opera, Tawawa House, based on the history of Wilberforce (completed with a commission by the Ohio Arts Council/Ohio Humanities Joint Program) was premiered in 1987." Later, the liner notes relate: "The staff of the 200-room hotel called Tawawa House included escaped slaves, freed slaves, mixed-race children of white Southern slave owners, their African American mistresses, and others involved in the anti-slavery movement. The opera depicts the complex relationships between blacks and whites in Ohio during the pre-Civil War period. The resort played an important role in the Underground Railroad in the region."

The works on the recording are generally extremely brief; several are less than a minute in length. The pieces are quite jovial and uplifting. They are a pleasant mixture of piano solo and piano four-hands works. For anyone with an interest in music related to The Underground Railroad or its era, this recording can be especially recommended.

Catch us at POP Brixton (49 Brixton Station Rd, London SW9 8PQ) this Wednesday at 8pm — a free concert!

In Place Of War presents Voices of the Revolution

Wednesday 31st August | 20:00 - 22:00

This year In Place Of War have brought together an
inspirational all-female line up of 15 musicians, rappers,
multi-instrumentalists & singers from around the world - Ghana,
Brazil, Zimbabwe, Colombia, Bangladesh, Rwanda, Venezuela, Egypt and the
UK to share, collaborate, create and perform under the musical
direction of the UK’s first black female composer for the Proms,
Errollyn Wallen.

From women reclaiming the djembe in Rwanda to
an Egyptian accordionist to a Brazilian favela-based dancehall artist to
Zimbabwe’s rap queen - Voices Of The Revolution will be a spectacular
new piece of work. This is your chance to catch it before it tours to
Festival No.6 and Hull Freedom Festival.

OTHER NEWS

I have been collaborating with New YVC UNITE to create a new song,
MESSAGE, to be performed by mass choirs next year at the Southbank

ANON, my chamber opera, commissioned by Welsh National Opera, will be performed by Peabody Chamber Opera in February

Christian Carey's review of my new album PHOTOGRAPHY, recently been released in the States:

First day of classes for the new school year begins on Saturday,
September 10th, 9:00 am at 1st Congregational Church Commons in downtown
Atlanta located on 125 Ellis Street, 30303.

Open House

All musicians are welcome to join us for a free day of
instruction, door prizes and fun during our Open House on Saturday,
September 17th from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. So pull up an instrument and
stick around!

AFFORDABLE TUITION PLANS

Tuition for the School Year Session is $600.00 for one child. However, you qualify for the "Early Bird" Tuition discount of $450.00
if you make full tuition payment by Saturday, October 1st. For monthly
payment plans and discounted family rates, please contact us at
info@sinfo-nia.com or call (404) 328-0840.

Payments can be made at www.sinfo-nia.com via PayPal. Checks and Money Orders should be mailed to:

During the August 20, 2016 10th annual Leimert Park Village
Book Fair, I visited The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints booth titled DISCOVER YOUR ROOTS https://discoveryourroots.org/.
I chatted with Wade Beams and learned that the African American Freedmen’s
Bureau kept records from 1865-1872 of a wide range of
data about the African American experience during slavery and freedom.
The Bureau contracted The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to codify
records of about 4.2 million hand written names of African Americans. The
result is about 2.5 million names after elimination of duplication, etc. The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will turn the names over to the new Smithsonian
African American Museum on December 6, 2016.

I would like to announce the upcoming season of Castle of our Skins, whose website has moved to www.castleskins.org!
It is our biggest season yet, beginning with our first ever portrait
concert featuring the works of Jeffrey Mumford. The information:

About Aaron

Named a 2005 MacArthur Fellow, a former member of the Obama National Arts Policy Committee, and President Obama’s first appointment to the National Council on the Arts, Aaron P. Dworkin serves as dean of the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance, which is ranked among the top performing arts schools in the nation. He is also the founder of The Sphinx Organization, the leading national arts organization for transforming lives through the power of diversity and the arts. A multi-media performing artist, author, social entrepreneur, artist-citizen, and educator, he continually receives extensive national recognition for his leadership and service to communities. Dean Dworkin founded the Dworkin Foundation where he serves as chairman of the Board. His memoir titled Uncommon Rhythm: A Black, White, Jewish, Jehovah’s Witness, Irish Catholic Adoptee’s Journey to Leadership was released through Aquarius Press.

Dean Dworkin has been featured in People Magazine, on NBC’s Today Show and Nightly News, CNN, NPR’s The Story and Performance Today. He has been the subject of articles in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Detroit News,Detroit Free Press, Washington Post, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Emerge and Jet Magazines, and many other media outlets,and was named one of Newsweek’s “15 People Who Make America Great.” He
is the recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Honorary Membership,
Harvard University’s Vosgerchian Teaching Award, National Governors
Association 2005 Distinguished Service to State Government Award,
Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award, Detroit News’s2003 Michiganian of the Year Award, Crain’s 40 Under 40 and Who’s Who Awards, BET’s History Makers in the Making Award, AT&T Excellence in Education Award, and National Black MBA’s Entrepreneur of The Year.

A passionate advocate for excellence in arts education and inclusion in the performing arts, Dean Dworkin
has been a frequent keynote speaker and lecturer at numerous national
conferences including the Aspen Ideas Conference, Independent Sector,
Dance USA National Conference, The League of American Orchestras,
National Association for Schools of Music, National Guild for Community
School of the Arts, National Association of Music Merchants, Chautauqua
Institution, National Suzuki Association, Americans for the Arts,
American String Teachers Association, Ithaca College, and the National Association for Negro Musicians. He served as commencement speaker at the Curtis Institute of Music, University of Michigan, Longy Conservatory and twice
for Bowling Green State University. In May of 2013, the renowned Curtis
Institute of Music awarded Honorary Doctorates to Dworkin and Sir Simon
Rattle, longtime maestro of the Berlin Philharmonic.

Dean Dworkin serves
regularly as a panelist on influential arts committees such as
Independent Sector’s Advisory Group, the Michigan Council for Arts and
Cultural Affairs, the MetLife Awards for Excellence in Community
Engagement, the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, the National
Association of Arts Presenters, Chamber Music America, The National
Endowment for the Arts, Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs,
Surdna Foundation Arts Teachers Fellowship Program, and others.

As the co-chair of the Arts and Cultural Education Task Force for the State of Michigan, Dean Dworkin designed the required arts curriculum for Michigan schools and served as co-chair of the Planning Task Force, which oversaw the strategic merger of ArtServe Michigan (statewide arts advocacy organization) and MACAA (Michigan Association of
Community Arts Agencies). In addition, he serves on other strategic
planning committees including the League of American Orchestras.

Dean Dworkin serves (or has served) on the Board of Directors of the League of American Orchestras, National Association of Performing Arts Presenters, National Society for the Gifted and Talented, and Creative Many Michigan (formerly ArtServe Michigan).
His board service also includes the Knight Foundation’s Arts Advisory
Board, Advisory Board of ASTA Alternative Strings Awards, Rachel Barton
Pine Foundation and the Avery Fisher Artist Program, Editorial Board of
Downtown New York Magazine and Independent Sector’s NGen Awards
Committee.

Dworkin recorded and produced two CDs, entitled Ebony Rhythm and Bar-Talk, in addition to writing, producing, and directing the independent film Deliberation. An accomplished electric and acoustic violinist, Dean Dworkin earned his bachelors of music and masters of music in violin performance
from the University of Michigan School of Music, graduating with high
honors. He also attended the Peabody Institute, the Philadelphia New
School, and the
Interlochen Arts Academy studying with Vladimir Graffman, Berl Senofsky,
Jascha Brodsky, John Eaken, Renata Knific, Donald Hopkins, and Stephen Shipps.

The author ofa poetry collection, They Said I Wasn’t Really Black,as well as the children’s bookThe 1st Adventure of Chilli Pepperz, Dworkin’s writings have been featured in Symphony Magazine, Polyphonic.org, Andante,and other websites and publications. He contributed to the first English edition of Superior Bowing Technique, a treatise by legendary violinist Lucien Capet, and authored the foreword to William Grant Still’s Violin Collection. Dean Dworkin founded and served as publisher and editor-in-chief of The Bard, a literary magazine with a readership of over 40,000.

Dean Dworkin offers a uniquely strong organizational, fundraising, and
administrative background combined with an unwavering passion for music
and its role in society. As dean of the University of Michigan’s School
of Music, Theatre & Dance, he leads a world-class faculty of 150
and a staff of 90 while administering a budget of $44 million and an endowment in excess of $140 million. As founder of the Sphinx Organization, Dworkin created an organization with a staff and faculty of over 40 and a budget of $5 million that awardsmore than $1,000,000 in prizes and scholarships annually. The organization serves as the leading advocate for young people and diversity in the arts in the world.

A lifelong musician, Dean Dworkin is also a spoken-word and visual artist. He has strong interests in politics, world history, and issues of economic and social justice. In addition to various genres of music and disciplines of the performing arts, he enjoys travel, movies, and culinary arts.Comment by email:Fantastic... Thanks so much! Aaron [Aaron P. Dworkin]